MORE than 400 call centre jobs in Cardiff came under threat this week.

MORE than 400 call centre jobs in Cardiff came under threat this week.

Serco, which operates one of the National Rail Inquiry call centres, has told its 420 staff that it has lost its contract.

The company has been told another service provider will take over when the contract ends in March next year.

The call centre in Ocean Park House, East Tyndall Street, has operated for seven years.

Rail inquiries chief executive Chris Scoggins was severely criticised last month when he said the service could be improved if out-sourced to India.

Amicus, the union representing call centre workers responded by saying: "This attitude is an example of the idiocy of moving the inquiry service 10,000 miles away."

Union officials said at the time that if National Rail Enquiries is moved overseas it could threaten more than 1,000 jobs around the UK.

n AN ELECTRONICS firm announced this week it was creating 200 jobs in Wales in response to rising demand for flat screen TVs.

Orion Electric has already started recruiting extra workers at its South Wales plant at Margam, Port Talbot.

The company, which also makes DVD players and VCRs, recruited an extra 200 workers in January which boosted the workforce to 530.

The latest move comes when it would normally have taken on 200 temporary workers to see it through the rise in demand.

But increasing orders, in particular for its own brand products, will see a new production line added and an extra 200 permanent jobs created.

n WORKERS have been urged not to drink too much at the office party, after a list of conversational clangers was disclosed, including a new recruit who asked a managing director: So what do you do?

A poll of 1,500 office staff found that trying to break the ice by chatting to people at parties could have disastrous results.

Recruitment firm Office Angels warned that the wrong kind of lasting impression can be made when workers socialised with managers.

Other cringe-worthy remarks made at parties included; I'm glad we chatted tonight because I didn't like you when I first met you, You're much better looking than you sound on the phone, I've been stalking you like a lion stalks an antelope.

Most people who have said things at parties they later regretted blamed alcohol, but others said they were nervous at meeting bosses.

Most managers said they remembered conversations at parties, with one in four admitting they had a lasting impact on their impression of an employee.

n ONE in five workers admit to fiddling their expenses, costing firms millions of pounds every month, according to a new report.

A survey of 500 workers found that the most common "creative accounting" was adding extra mileage.

Most of those claiming dodgy expenses said they felt it was an unofficial perk of the job, while others saw it as a way of boosting low wages.

The average amount of extra expenses being claimed was #11 a month, although three per cent of those surveyed said they routinely claimed an extra #50 a month.

Janet McGlaughlin, a director of recruitment firm Pertemps which conducted the survey, said: "Fiddling expenses is a natural temptation for staff and our findings show that it's a common occurrence in companies across the country."